Sports host at centre of Chris Gayle sexism controversy Mel McLaughlin joins Seven
The presenter at the centre of the Chris Gayle sexism row Mel McLaughlin has been named as Seven News Sydney’s new sports anchor.
‘Don’t blush baby’: McLaughlin won praise for her handling of a proposition live on air from cricketer Chris Gayle
Melanie McLaughlin joins Seven from Network Ten where she made her mark fronting coverage of the Big Bash cricket, and replaces Jim Wilson behind the sports desk for a Seven News team looking to regain ratings in Sydney from rivals Nine.
McLaughlin won praise from many quarters earlier this year for her handling of being propositioned by West Indian star Chris Gayle, who asked her out for a drink live on air and told her “don’t blush baby”.
Mclaughlin appeared uncomfortable but maintained her professionalism, telling Gayle: “I’m not blushing”, before returning to her cricket-related questions.
McLaughlin is also expected to play a key role in Seven’s coverage of the Rio Olympics which take place in August. She was a key part of Ten’s Winter Olympic coverage last February.
Network director of news and public affairs Craig McPherson said: “Mel has sport running through her blood. From Rugby League, Cricket, of course Soccer and everything in between, she lives and breathes it.
“Born and bred in Quakers Hill, Mel has covered many major sporting events on the world stage and her extensive local knowledge across all of Sydney’s sporting codes will add many extra layers to what is the best sports team in the business.”
New Sydney sports director Jim Wilson
Wilson has been given the title of Seven News Sydney sports director and will lead the sporting team in the city, and front the desk on Fridays and Saturdays as well as Seven’s Afternoon News.
McPherson said: “Jim brings unrivalled knowledge in covering all things sport. His leadership and passion will drive our sports team on a daily basis and help create other sports content.”
This new line-up will be effective from next Sunday, April 3.
Alex Hayes
This is really mediocre reporting. Anyone who watches Channel Ten’s sports coverage knows that Mel is one of the most talented broadcasters in Australia, yet the first 4 paragraphs are devoted exclusively to the Chris Gayle saga? Pretty pathetic.
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Agree completely with the first comment
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C’mon Mumbrella….report properly baby…
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Mel looks great and can read a script but what she really showed thru the Gayle incident was that she struggles on her feet.
Good on her for landing another great job – I hope she can handle the heat.
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“…presenter at the centre of the Chris Gayle sexism row Mel McLaughlin” – how about “accomplished sports reporter Mel McLaughlin”? Well done on reducing her work to one incident.
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Not a fan.
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Waiting for mumbrella to call out the IP addresses of those people who commented negatively about their story
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@Coke Monster, Mumbrella can call out my IP address if they like, but I don’t have a horse in this race. Just a sports fan who doesn’t think Mel deserves the sole identifier of “that journalist who copped Chris Gayle’s sexism”.
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Hi Coke Monster, M,
To be clear we only call out IP addresses on rare occasions when we see astroturfing or people with vested interests taking advantage of the veil of anonymity to take a pop at their rivals.
People are entitled to disagree with articles, headlines or anything else. On this occasion I disagree with the criticisms, I’d argue for the vast majority of people Mel came to the public attention after the Chris Gayle incident, and the article does mention her career to date. But we respect the right of people to disagree and will publish comments as they come, as we always have done.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella